Sustainability Effort Started

A new coffee sustainability initiative designed to benefit 3,000 farmers in the coffee-rich central Highlands region of Vietnam has been launched.

Louis Dreyfus Company (LDC), a merchant and processor of agricultural products, has partnered with Jacobs Douwe Egberts (JDE) and Syngenta to create the project. The goal is boost farmers’ ability to combat climate change and improve the management of agrichemicals in Dak Lak, Dak Nong, and Gia Lai provinces.

JDE is a global coffee and tea company. Syngenta is an agricultural solutions company.

“We recognize that many problems are complex and may take years and the commitment of multiple stakeholders to resolve. But we are on the right path to do so,” Do Ngoc Sy, JDE’s sustainability manager for Asia Pacific, said in a company statement.

About 95% of the country’s coffee is produced in the Central Highlands, making Vietnam the world’s second largest coffee exporter. With 596,000 coffee farmers, Vietnam exports about 1.4 million tons of coffee each year.

Climate change, however, is reducing production and agrichemicals are affecting the soil and farmers’ health. The goal of the three-year project is to train 3,000 farmers in sustainable farming practices. LDC agronomists also help farmers with crop diversification and climate resilience techniques.